“We are a sad generation with happy pictures,” said one student. “Tiktok is destroying our brains,” said another.
Published: 05/05/2024 20:00
This is a chronicle. Any opinions expressed in the text are the responsibility of the writer. If you would like to send an article proposal, you can read how here.
In an op-ed in The Washington Post in 2015, award-winning journalist Anne Applebaum warned against what she called “the curse of Facebook.”
She was horrified by social media’s undermining of democratic reforms in many countries. Founder Mark Zuckerberg had to spend $45 billion “to correct the damage Facebook had done to democracy,” she demanded. Otherwise, she feared that the US would become a digital Tower of Babel ruled by President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon’s motto: “Flood the zone with shit.”
Applebaum had a point.
The original hope that social media would become a forum for genuine grassroots democracy has been shattered by such media’s use for state surveillance, fabricated lies and voter manipulation by foreign powers.
To make matters worse, a recent Newsweek survey shows how Generation Z (born 1997-2012), who have long suffered from political apathy, are increasingly willing to embrace authoritarian leaders.
This development is not surprising. Already in 1941, psychoanalyst and philosopher Erich Fromm concluded in his famous study “Escape from Freedom” that people who experience strong anxiety are drawn towards the authoritarian and conformist in order to regain a sense of security.
Ironically, it was when we were researching people’s happiness that our attention was drawn to the relationship between social media and Norwegian democracy.
Responds with political unhappiness
In one of our investigations, we took as a starting point the last year’s alarming findings from Norsk Monitor about the declining quality of life in the Kingdom of Norway.
In the last decade, the young generation has become more and more miserable, while those over 60 have become the happiest age group. At the same time, Norway has fallen from first to seventh place on the UN’s list of the world’s happiest countries. What is going on?
Norsk Monitor found that young people suffer from poorer social relationships, mental health problems, competitive pressure and growing fear of the future. But why should teenagers in the world’s richest country find life so horrible? And why do they respond with political unhappiness?
Not so long ago, unhappy youths used to get angry, read the philosopher Karl Marx, riot and create revolution. What has caused Generation Z to lose its cool?
To seek deeper answers, we carried out 45 in-depth interviews with high school students, pensioners and people who work with young people. Originally, we wanted to find out how the young people’s declining level of happiness was connected to the pandemic, the climate crisis, the energy crisis, the housing crisis, the health crisis and other ailments that make life more challenging in a rich and boring country like Norway.
But the students talked less about crises and more about how their lives were affected – for better, but especially for worse – by Tiktok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
You need to design your ideal digital self
Many teenagers wanted to get rid of these apps but didn’t think they could live without them. The smartphone was the last thing they saw before falling asleep and the first thing they reached for when they woke up. Social media provided a sense of belonging to a virtual community that seemed to consist of a large number of beautiful and happy people.
“We are a sad generation with happy pictures,” said one student. “Tiktok is destroying our brains,” said another. “We all have ADHD now. We have become dependent on something always happening.”
What’s happening is that Instagram and Tiktok are showing the kids that they can’t be happy until they get a new make-up, bigger muscles and a high-performing brain. In the Tiktokized world, even if you are a vulnerable and sensitive teenager, you have to stop being who you are and move at your own pace.
You need to design your ideal digital self, inspired by influencers. Your community involvement is replaced by the stressful performance of a life that has become a perpetual merry-go-round of competition and beauty pageants.
We are not just talking about commercial manipulation. We find a new and subtle type of cultural and market-driven seduction in which the victims are gradually depoliticized.
An overwhelming feeling of powerlessness
The political indifference – and the urge to focus instead on make-up and muscles – is reinforced by horrors pouring from the smartphone: “When you wake up to a phone full of bad news, it’s easy to get depressed,” said one student. “I used to care about the climate, but now I’ve given up. The next generation will have to try to fix it, but it’s probably impossible,” said another.
Most students expressed an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Nor were they ashamed of their lack of political involvement: “It’s not worth getting involved in the climate or politics. Look at how much Greta Thunberg does, and even that doesn’t help.”
The American psychologist Jonathan Haidt has identified three conditions for a well-functioning democracy:
- social capital (extensive social networks with high trust)
- strong institutions
- common basic narratives
Haidt concludes that social media has weakened all three. We believe that the ongoing the commodification the commodificationCommodification is turning something into a commodity, according to the Norwegian Academy’s dictionary. of young people, their transformation from citizens to commodities, is an underestimated threat to democratic processes.
It is too early to conclude that sad, narcissistic and powerless Tiktokers will destroy Norwegian democracy. But it is high time to investigate this further.
Pensioners can play an important role
In our recently published book on biocultural perspectives on quality of life, we claim that the success of the Norwegian welfare society has depended heavily on three moral forces:
- a strong spirit of cooperation
- experience of meaning in life linked to an altruistic ideal of helping “underdogs” both at home and in the world
- an intimate connection with nature as a source of personal and national renewal
These driving forces have underpinned the unique Norwegian model of a “pro-social democracy”. Our interviews make us fear for the future of the happy, prosocial Norwegian society.
A stronger competitive attitude characterizes all institutions, including schools and universities. Cooperating citizens are replaced by hapless alpha females and miserable male losers. The apathy of the young makes them easy prey for political manipulation by authoritarian forces.
Finally: For many young people, nature is no longer a source of identity and energy. As one student put it: “I can’t handle the silence of nature. I have to wear headphones and listen to music.”
Is there any hope in the rather dismal landscape created by digital drugs?
Paradoxically, our in-depth interviews with the older generation give reason to believe that increasingly happier and fitter pensioners can play an important role in renewing Norwegian democracy. Or at least keep it alive for a while longer.
